Wednesday, July 23, 2014

A Wooden Bill of Fare

Here are a couple of Oregon foodways oddments: banquet menus
printed on wood. Both menus make a nod to regional foods, and both make it
clear that eating locally wasn’t easy, even in the 1920s.

The “Road, Rail and Sail Banquet” was held in Marshfield
(renamed Coos Bay in 1940) in the spring of 1925. Apparently in celebration of
transportation, the chamber of commerce offered locally-produced cottage
cheese, cheddar cheese (Melowest brand), butter, and ice cream—and indeed Coos
County was prime dairy country in the 1920s. The crab was no doubt local,
possibly some of the vegetables, but the pineapple, olives, cigars, and coffee
had to come a long ways to Coos Bay: by road, by rail, by sail.

The “Oregon Products Banquet” held in Bend in 1929 was
clearly an earnest endeavor by the Woman’s Civic League to promote local
products. While Bend was, like Marshfield, very much a lumber town, irrigation
had brought some crops to the area, notably potatoes. The dairy products and
the turkey may be local and the cabbage salad and fresh vegetables are
attributed to the farmers of nearby Tumalo (in February!), it would appear that many items were imported
from a far piece of the state: Del Monte peas, cranberries, celery, apples. And
coffee, of course: that had to come from beyond Oregon’s borders. Ah, but the
retailers were local!

Notice, however, the presence in Bend in 1929 of chain stores: Piggly Wiggly, Safeway, Woolworth. The chains-vs.-the-little-guys would become a major issue, especially in groceries, in the next couple of years in Oregon.

About Me

Richard H. Engeman heads Oregon Rediviva, LLC, a public history research and writing firm. He is the author of "The Oregon Companion" and "Eating It Up in Eden." See his website at www.oregonrediviva.com.